This is the second half of an interview with Christina Somerville, one of Tapestry’s first students, about whether or not Tapestry of Grace is a worldviews-based program. (To read the first half of Christina’s interview, …

Weekly Planning with Tapestry

This summer, I had the opportunity to spend time at conferences and explain Tapestry to some great moms. What I discovered was that while many people understood the “big picture” of Tapestry, they didn’t get how to actually sit down and use it in a hands-on way.

That’s why I made an informal video to share with you all how I have walked through a week of planning Tapestry for my family. This seemed to help so many of you that I remade it and mounted links to it elsewhere on the Tapestry website. The embedded copy that used to be here doesn’t play any more, so please try going to: http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/plan to watch the updated one!

13 Comments »

Thank you very much for putting this together! It was extremely helpful to actually see and hear how to go about planning for the week.

In 2010, we purchased Year 4 and never made it past week one. It was overwhelming. I asked multiple users about scheduling, but tended to get the blanket ‘it really depends on your own family’ answer, or the one where I felt they were speaking another language that I had yet to pick up.

I am so thankful for this video!

We will be trying Year 1 this school year, and I already feel I am leaps ahead understanding how the program is meant to work.

Hi Tara,
I just wanted to let you know that I am doing a series on Tapestry of Grace on my blog to help those new to Tapestry in a step by step format.
It reiterates some what is shared here and on the website, breaks things down even further, and offers discussions through the comments with other moms as well.

The information isn’t necessarily different, but it comes from another angle. So please feel free to stop by and see if there is anything that is helpful for you. I will continue to post in this series until I feel lead otherwise.

Thank you so much Marcia for offering up this video. I will be sharing the link on my blog next week so other moms who are needing help can benefit from it.

We have six children at home (one is already in Heaven…) and have used Tapestry since the Redesign began. WE LOVE IT! A couple weeks ago I was telling my husband that I struggle greatly with the idea of micromanaging our daily routine in order to fit everything in. It’s not the scheduling that I’m opposed to, it’s just the nagging feeling that as a result we’ll have a regimented, up-tight life that will be a mistake. I told him that I wished there was a more experienced Tapestry user with a large family who could tell me whether or not such a detailed schedule is the way to go or just controlling. My husband actually suggested I email you.

I started watching your video as soon as I saw it posted. When I got to minute 15 and you said that as a mother of six you had to deliberately detail your day I literally started to cry. When people ask me about my life I tell them (joyfully) it’s summed up in one word, “choreography”. Your comment gave me permission and release to choreograph everything and not fear that it will just be an up-tight waste of time. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Yours was the voice I needed to hear.

As a mother of 10, homeschooling for 14 years now, I ditto Melissa’s comments. I’ve often wished for the relaxed home atmosphere, yet in real life, I am a master choreographer every day! This will be my 3rd year of TOG, and although the pace is VERY fast, I am able to keep my middle and high-schoolers challenged and am preparing them for college and career. That is the life God is calling me to live, in His strength. It is possible!

This video was very helpful to me. I’ve perused Tapestry on a number of occassions and have always felt overwhelmed at the sheer volume of information presented. Having tried other classical approaches and failed time and time again b/c I wasn’t able to meet the extensive “requirements” I had almost given up. But your buffet analogy is wonderful. It’s breathtaking. After a summer of burn out the flame is beginning to flicker again and I actually can feel hope rising. I LOVE how you encourage listeners to really consider what would be appetizing and interesting to the students and choose lessons accordingly. This may very well be the thing we need to continue homeschooling…and who knows, even make it a success this time.
Thanks for taking the time to explain,
Tarah

Marcia,
I cannot tell you how helpful this was! We purchased the Year 1 DE last year and I’ve tried to start a half-dozen times, but I just couldn’t get over the mountain. My head exploded every time I opened the binder.

But, what was worse, I knew it was simple! I knew it would just take me sitting down and starting with one kid and picking out what I wanted each child to do, but in my overwhelmed, over-worked momma state, I apparently needed someone to take me by the hand and walk me through that process step-by-step.

So, THANK YOU for your time and patience to sit down and spell it all out for new TOGers like me! We will finally be putting our wonderful investment to use!

Marcia, thank you for walking through the process of how to plan for the use of Tapestry of Grace. It is helpful even for someone like me who has used Tapestry for several years. Also, your tip to plan based on your child’s personality and likes was extremely helpful. I only have two children and they are the same age/level. Your tip encourages me to not give into the temptation of having them do the same activities and reading assignments, but to cater their assignments to their abilities, likes, etc. Thank you!!!

I can’t thank you enough for taking time to create this video! After almost three years of trying to use TOG (giving up and trying again over and over)…I am so excited to begin taking on the planning with one student at a time. I love TOG and did NOT want to give up…I’m so glad I didn’t!

This tutorial has really helped me quite a bit. Like several in previous posts, I purchased Year 4 two years ago but have never used it because it was overwhelming. I still have many questions but feel maybe at least I can get started and use TOG this year. Hopefully I can find a plan for us that I can feel confident is adequate for all involved.

[…] I also made a video that has helped many new moms gain an overarching sense of direction of how you translate the Tapestry year-plans into customized lesson plans for your particular children. Click here to see it! […]

This is one of those things that “people say” which illustrates very well the telephone game type of distortion that I described in the Introduction to this series. Whether or not a program is complete …

Recently, we at Lampstand Press have been exploring ways to make it easier for our teaching parents who wish to concentrate on memory work to use what is already present in Tapestry week-plans. Though we …

This summer, I had the opportunity to spend time at conferences and explain Tapestry to some great moms. What I discovered was that while many people understood the “big picture” of Tapestry, they didn’t get …